Board Gaming - Magic Maze

Magic Maze

This was a bit of a different game for me. It's a real-time game, with the stresses of a timer that runs down, and a rule about no talking, or other instruction, to the other players.

The object is to guide the 4 characters out of the shopping mall (which they have been robbing to re-equip themselves). In a mechanism used in a few co-op games (and this is definitely co-op), you don't actually control any individual playing piece, but everyone could control whichever piece is needed to be at the time.

What does separate the players is that you each have your own controls which restrict what each player can do with each of the pawns.

^{Character cards showing what you can do}

Each player will have one of the 4 cardinal directions (in a 4 player game. In 2 and 3 player games there are other tiles to split up the actions), and maybe one of the special abilities, such as being able to search for new rooms, or traverse the escalators, or use the warp points.

^{A layout post game (failure)}

To put pressure on the situation, you can't talk. And there is an egg timer draining away constantly not reminding you that you're in a hurry to collect the key you need and escape to your exit point before it expires. Oh, and only 1 player can be moving a character at any point in time, so you might see what you think needs doing, but another player thinks that pawn needs moving in their direction first... After 3 moves of the same piece back and forth, hilarity ensues.

There's also a few timer spots on the board that allow you to flip the timer, which is a neat mechanic that when used properly grants you almost an entire new egg timer. When used poorly, costs you time because all it does is turn the timer over, regardless of it's current state.

There's quite a bit of variation in the game, with the option of either needing to get to any of the exit locations, or having to go to your colour coded one only. There is also a marker, which is the only way of communicating with another player, letting them know "Hey, we need you to do 'something'". Can't tell them what you need done, but at least they know they're needed...

We had a lot of fun playing this a couple of times back to back, and even as 4 experienced gamers it was not the simple little puzzle it looks like. Quite enjoyed it, and look forward to playing it again.

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^{Upgoats made by the talented @ryivhnn}